Seven years ago, the University of Pécs, Hungary’s oldest university, faced a growing demand for higher education and an influx of international applicants. To manage this, the University needed a more efficient system for handling applications, improving the student experience, and supporting its ambitious growth plans. In 2017, they turned to DreamApply, which transformed their admissions process and led to remarkable outcomes.
We followed up with Péter Árvai, Deputy Director for Internationalization, to discuss the progress that the university has made since implementation.
Before DreamApply, faculties used separate systems or solutions developed internally. The university’s growth turned this practice into demanding manual work and inconsistency.
Before implementing DreamApply, the University of Pécs struggled with manual processes, inconsistent communication and scalability issues. The admissions team was overwhelmed by paper-based protocols, leading to inefficiencies and potential errors.
Engaging with prospective students and tracking their application status was cumbersome and prone to miscommunication. As the number of applications grew, the existing system was unable to scale, limiting the University’s ability to attract and enroll more students, particularly from international markets.
In five years, DreamApply became an integral part of the University’s strategy to increase its international student body and enhance its overall admissions process.
Since implementing DreamApply, the University has seen a threefold increase in applications.
During our conversation with Péter Árvai, Deputy Director for Internationalization, we discussed results related to the number of applications, efficiency, and the system’s ability to support the same number of staff with more responsibilities.
What results has the university seen in 2024?
Since implementing DreamApply, the University has tripled the number of applications for the non-medical programs. This growth reflects the University’s enhanced ability to attract and manage more applicants, particularly from international markets.
“Due to our results with non-medical programs over the last few years, the university has decided to begin using DreamApply for our medical programs as well,” Árvai noted.
The system has seamlessly handled the increased volume of applications without compromising performance or user experience. This scalability has allowed the University to continue its growth trajectory without the need for significant additional resources, including staff or other technology.
Five years ago, Árvai stated the following for a case study:
DreamApply has truly revolutionized our admissions process. We’ve seen our application numbers grow exponentially, and our ability to manage and engage with prospective students has improved dramatically. What started as a solution to digitize our processes has become a key driver of our internationalization strategy. DreamApply is our 12th man on the field.
As Péter Árvai notes, DreamApply’s impact goes beyond just the admissions team. The university has seen improved communication and collaboration among faculties, leading to ongoing enhancements in processes. The team feels that these positive changes are reflected not only in the growth of applications but also in overall enrollment numbers. One thing the university consistently observes is that DreamApply has fostered a culture of continuous improvement.
What other benefits has the university noticed?
Besides the impact DreamApply had on the admissions team, each faculty that reviews and manages the application process has been communicating more with the rest of the university and learning to enhance how things are done. Changes for the better have become a norm among the faculty as well as staff, and these changes are reflected in the healthy growth of not only applications, but also enrollment.
The enrollment numbers have also grown, reaching university limits. More importantly, the growth was not only quantitative, but qualitative too: with the tripled number of applications, faculties have a larger student pool to select from.
“We added additional responsibilities related to finances to the admissions team, and despite the rise in student numbers and new responsibilities, we did not have to hire additional staff,” Árvai concluded.
Árvai looks forward to continued development of new features from DreamApply that will continue to improve his team’s efficiency, but also the collaboration with other departments and students.
See University of Pécs live: https://apply.pte.hu/
About DreamApply
Founded in 2011 in Estonia, DreamApply is an innovation-driven EdTech organization offering application management software that helps more than 300 educational institutions across 40 countries improve admissions, marketing, recruitment, financial aid management and other internal processes. Institutions that implemented DreamApply software have increased student enrollment by at least 30% and reduced up to 40% in application processing time.
DreamApply offers an easy-to-use and highly customizable software commended by many university staff and students. Our excellent reviews indicate that DreamApply is the solution to many challenges that universities and students around the globe face, as well as a testament to our founders’ dream to improve student access to education around the globe.
Book your demo today at https://www.dreamapply.com/request-a-demo.